Viosoft has added support for an Abatron JTAG probe to its suite of embedded development and debugging tools. The Arriba Embedded Edition now supports Abatron's BDI2000 BDM/JTAG probe, enabling the Viosoft tools to be used with PowerPC processors for the first time.

According to Viosoft CEO Hieu Tran, Viosoft's Arriba suite can support any PowerPC chip supported by Abatron's BDI2000, including Freescale's MPC4xx, MPC5xx, MPC8xx, and MPC82xx, among other PowerPC chips. Tran said, “Anything [the Abatron] can support, we can by default support. And it supports basically any PowerPC chip.”

Arriba, Embedded Edition includes the Arriba source level and symbolic debugger, which Viosoft says is compatible with object files generated by the GNU C/C++ cross compilers. The debugger supports a wide array of target connectivity options, including BDM/JTAG and debug monitors over serial, parallel, or Ethernet, Viosoft says.

Viosoft also offers Linux-specific editions of Arriba, which add Linux reference kernels, as well as an OS-resident debugging monitor called VMON2, which is implemented as a loadable kernel module. According to Tran, Viosoft is currently porting VMON2 to the PowerPC architecture, with some chips supported as early as six weeks from now. “PowerPC is an interesting beast, with variations that resemble nothing like each other,” Tran noted.

The Arriba debugger shows a wealth of system information
(Click to enlarge)
Meanwhile, Arriba Embedded Edition offers the following features for PowerPC developers, according to Viosoft:

• Project manager with Makefile import/export, and support for large scale projects with source management requirements
• Syntax-highlighted editor with per file parser for fast viewing and browsing of functions and variables
• Integration with source code management control system (CVS)
• Multiple file and directory compare and merge tools
• Support for C/C++ and assembly language
• Source and instruction level run control (step into/out/over functions, step instructions, run until)
• Software breakpoints and hardware/conditional breakpoints (on selected platforms)
• Multiple integrated displays including data watchpoints, variables, call stack, memory and registers, and mixed or pure mode disassembly
• Configurable and customizable CPU registers viewer and GUI builder
• Dynamic scripting language (based on Tcl/Tk) with event callback

Tran noted, “By adding support for the BDI2000, Viosoft is servicing our customers' needs for a comprehensive debugging environment that supports board bring-up to application and device driver development on embedded Linux. Having support for a popular JTAG device such as the BDI2000, in addition to our VMON2 debug monitor, ensures that our customers can meet all of their debugging needs through the same consistent user interface.”

Availability

Arriba for PowerPC is available immediately. Viosoft also offers Embedded Editions of Arriba for XScale, MIPS Malta, Broadcom BRM12xx, Armadillo, Cirrus 98K, and ESST. It offers Embedded Linux editions for a number of specific development boards, including the Intel Mainstone and Richfield, Intrinsyc CERF1, ATI x225/x226, ADI Coyote/IXP425, and Armadillo. Viosoft also offers a “Linux student” version targeting the ubiquitous Linksys WRT54G wireless router.

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